win10

Windows 10 is now available for installation on UW owned equipment. We currently have no plans to "mass upgrade" all current systems to Windows 10, but will generally be rolling out new systems with Windows 10 installed, unless specifically requested otherwise. People wishing to have their desktops converted are encouraged to do so. For Faculty, Grads, and Staff, just submit a support request. These requests will be fulfilled "as time permits", and we will coordinate with you on the migration. For general information on Windows 10, please refer to the Microsoft page Windows 10.

Things of note in windows 10:

Security Enhancements

To address the ever increasing threat of attacks in cyberspace, Windows (and most every other operating system) has been increasingly focused on providing a secure computing environment. Often these new security settings can disrupt the workflow that we have become used to.
  1. User Account Control: Starting in Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced "User Account Control" to try and mitigate potential threats. In Windows Vist and Windows 7, "User Account Control" could be completely disabled without any operational detriment (other than the circumvention of the enhanced security specifications), and that is what we did here at CSE. Starting in Windows 8 (and continuing to hold true in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10), if "User Account Control" is completely disabled, the new classification of Windows Programs referred to as "Apps" will not run at all. In Windows 10, this includes things as integral as the "Calculator" program. This has required the selection of a setting for UAC that allows full operation of programs and "apps". The down side is, you get "nagged" more about what you are doing. (increased frequency of "are you sure you want to do that?" prompts, that can not be disabled).
  2. Administrator Permission: In Windows 10, you will frequently get messages like: "You will need to provide Administrator approval to complete this action" or "Access Denied" when attempting a common task (like creating a folder under the root drive) even though you are logged in with Administrator level credentials. This message can be misleading, the first time I saw it, I thought I hadn't been granted the access to the system that I was supposed to. However, that was not the case. This is simply an extra hurdle that was introduced to prevent malicious programs from altering the system without your knowledge. This message does not necessarily mean you are not an administrator on the system. Depending on the circumstances, you will simply need to confirm that you want to continue the action(by selecting "ok" or "yes" on the popup dialog box). Other circumstances may require you to "right click" the program you want to run, and select "Run as Administrator". NOTE: This action is different from Windows 7, and previous versions, in that it used to mean "Run this program as a user other than myself, that is the local administrator account" and now it means "run this program as an elevated version of my user account".
  3. Trusting program locations: Although around in some form or another since before I can recall, the execution of programs from "non trusted" locations has been increasingly restricted. In Windows 10, you can bet that most of the time, if you try and run a program from a network location, it will fail (mapped drives, UNC shares, ftp, etc. etc.). While workarounds can be implemented on a case by case basis, there is no way to just "make it work" for everyone, all the time, from any location. The solution is that you simply have to adjust your workflow habits to copy executable files to the local C:\ in some folder (Windows 10 won't let you copy to the root of C:\).

Printing

Note that when printing from personal Windows 10 machines (like laptops and tablets), you must follow the same guidelines for printing from Windows 8 .

The New Start Menu

The Windows 10 start menu is significantly different from Windows 7. Fist note that you can customize the "live tiles" area , that is the right hand of the start menu. For the traditional (left side) start menu, items are no longer organized using a "tree" like structure, but are all listed in a single list, organized alphabetically. Often you can just begin typing the name of the program after clicking start (or pressing the "windows" key) and the new start menu will find it for you. When you don't know the exact name of the application you want to use, it can be more difficult to find it, because it is not saved under any sub tree of the parent application, like it was in Windows 7. To view the old Windows 7 type tree structure, you can use "Windows Explorer" and navigate to: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs.


The CSE Instructional labs have moved to Windows 10 as of 9/28/2015. The content below is specific to the instructional labs, undergraduate students, and Windows 10.

New Roaming Profile: The first time you log in, IT WILL BE SLOW.

Windows 10 uses a completely new form of roaming profiles, and the information from your Windows 7 roaming profile will not be automatically carried over. This also means that the first time you log in, a new roaming profile will have to be generated, and it will take longer than normal. Subsequent logons will be much quicker, especially when using a machine with an SSD system drive.

Redirected Folders

Your redirected folders will still be used, so your "Desktop" and "My Documents" folders should still contain all of your files. These Windows folders are actually redirected to your Z:\WindowsFolders.

Persistence of former Web Browser Bookmarks

Chrome and Firefox bookmarks will carry over, they are part of you redirected folders. IE is not installed on Windows 10, it has been replaced by "Edge". This means that any IE bookmarks (a.k.a. Favorites) will not show up. Please contact support if you need to get them from your old profile.